Eden
by InvisiblePrincess2002
Summary: AU. When Jo's marriage to Rick falls apart and Mrs. Garrett's husband Bruce suddenly dies, the two women reconnect and they find great comfort in their mother/daughter relationship. And, oh yeah, Mrs. Garrett delivers a baby! Three-shot.
1. Jo Calls Mrs Garrett

**A/N: **This story is based on the NBC television series _The Facts of Life, _which as far as I know, is the property of Embassy Television, Columbia Pictures Television, and Sony Pictures Television. **No infringement is intended. **I also want to add that in this little three-shot, I have tried to keep everything as close to FOL cannon as possible. However, I just could **not **allow Jo to stay married to an immature, childish bum like Rick! I honestly cannot fathom Jo's marriage to Rick lasting very long, and I wrote it out the way I truly believe things would have happened between them in the real world. Rick Bonner is just simply **not **husband material. Period. I don't know what the FOL writers were thinking when they stuck Jo with him. I also killed Bruce off a little earlier than when his death probably occurred in cannon. In this story, Bruce dies before he and Mrs. Garrett have the opportunity to travel throughout Asia and India like in cannon. I'm sorry, but I always thought Bruce was a selfish, annoying jerk and that he was such a creep to try to make Mrs. Garrett chose between him and the girls. I never liked him, and I **did not **feel like trying to deal with him in this story, so I got rid of him for my own personal convenience (and sadistic pleasure.) For the most part, though, I keep it cannon. Just wanted to let you guys know. Happy reading. :)

**Chapter 1: Jo Calls Mrs. Garrett**

It was a chilly spring morning in March of 1989, and as Jo stared out the window of her coworker's cabin, she took in the lovely sight of the snow-covered wilderness and sighed. It had been a very difficult, painful year for twenty-four-year-old Jo Polniaczek Bonner. Just over a year ago, she'd gotten married to a funny, playful, charismatic concert pianist named Rick Bonner. Had things gone according to plan, she and Rick would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary weeks before. But of course, in this hurtful world, life almost never goes according to plan.

When Jo first met Rick and started dating him, it was the most fun time of her life. Rick was very charming and funny and laid-back, and Jo really enjoyed spending time with him. Despite his obvious problems with immaturity and irresponsibility, there was something about him that was actually endearing. He reminded her a great deal of her own father, and it was probably that fact about Rick that touched Jo the most. He proposed marriage to Jo after they'd only been dating for a few months. Jo was hesitant at first, but there was just something about him that touched her heart so deeply. Something about him that she just could not say no to.

They were wed in late February of last year, and then Rick got a job with the American Philharmonic Orchestra and had to leave for Europe for the next month. While Rick was away doing his concert tour in Europe, Jo stayed behind in Peekskill with her friends and started looking for an apartment somewhere nearby for her and Rick to move into once Rick returned home. Back when Jo was in her late teens, she had been a scholarship student at the Eastland School for Girls in Peekskill. After getting herself and three other students into a world of trouble during her first day there, the school dietician, Mrs. Edna Garrett, stepped in and talked the headmaster out of expelling them all. Mrs. Garrett agreed to assume full responsibility for Jo and the other students involved, Blair Warner, Natalie Green, and Tootie Ramsey. In order to be allowed to stay at Eastland, the girls had to move out of their dorm rooms into the large storage room across the hall from Mrs. Garrett's bedroom so she could keep her eye on them, and they also had to help Mrs. Garrett out in the kitchen and cafeteria. For the next three years after that, the five of them became an incredibly close-knit family. Jo and the girls often felt much closer to Mrs. Garrett than they did to their own parents, and even though Mrs. Garrett never actually admitted it out loud, there actually were plenty of times when she felt even closer to the girls than she did to her own flesh and blood children. The year that Jo and Blair graduated from Eastland and started their freshman year at Langley College, Mrs. Garrett also quit her job at Eastland and started her own business called Edna's Edibles. It wasn't long before all five of them were under the same roof again, the girls sharing another room across the hall from Mrs. Garrett's room and helping her run her new gourmet food shop downstairs. Two years later, after a fire destroyed Edna's Edibles, they built a new gift shop in its place and called it Over Our Heads. The following year, Mrs. Garrett met up with an old flame from her past, Dr. Bruce Gaines, and they got married and went back into the Peace Corps, and for the next two years, they lived and worked and contributed to humanity side by side in Africa. Meanwhile, Jo and the girls were all busy becoming adults, doing things like finishing college, starting their careers, getting engaged, and getting married, all the while Mrs. Garrett's sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, who had moved in after her departure, was taking care of the shop. And while Rick was away doing his concert tour with the American Philharmonic Orchestra in Europe during the first five weeks of their marriage, Jo was perfectly content to stay at home with the friends and roommates who had been family to her for so many years.

Then in early April, Rick finally came home, and he and Jo moved into their own apartment together in New York City. Jo had hoped that they would find a place closer to Peekskill so she could keep her current job as a social worker at the local community center, but Rick insisted that they had to find a place in Manhattan because it would be easier for him to find work there. And that's when the trouble really began.

Jo really didn't want to leave her job at the community center behind, but Rick insisted and he just wouldn't budge, so Jo gave in. Rick did manage to find a job in New York City, a number of jobs, actually, all of which were just basically him playing the piano in nightclubs and dive bars for crumbs. With Jo not being able to find any jobs in social work like she wanted due to her lack of qualifications and with Rick being stuck working at jobs he hated, both of the newlyweds were miserable, and they were constantly at each other's throats. Jo was angry and bitter at Rick for making her give up her job at the Peekskill community center, and Rick was just as angry and bitter at Jo because for the first time ever in his life, his entire life couldn't revolve solely around _him._ Now, he had to actually be a husband and support his wife, and supporting his wife meant having to put up with jobs he hated. It meant that wasting his life being a self-centered drunken bum, which he had a history of doing, was no longer an option. Back when Jo and Rick were dating, it was all fun and games and laughs, and they really did seem to be in love. But it seemed that the instant Rick returned from his concert tour in Europe to begin his married life with Jo, the honeymoon phase of their relationship came to an abrupt end.

Jo may not have had a degree in social work and she may not have been able to continue working in that area like she wanted, but thankfully, she still had her degree in education. She got a job teaching math to fourth graders at a nearby public school that June, but obviously, the job wouldn't begin until school started in the fall, so the young married couple was still dependent on Rick's income. Jo, of course, was hardly the stay-at-home housewife type, and that July, she got a temporary job as a mechanic at a local garage to help out financially. (It also gave her the perfect excuse to get out of the apartment and away from Rick and all his incessant whining and complaining.)

That September, things only went from bad to worse. When the school year started and Jo began bringing home a salary, as pitiful as that salary was, Rick decided that he wasn't even going to _try_ to financially contribute to their household anymore, and he basically started living off Jo. Rick didn't see any reason why he should have to go out to work at all if he couldn't get a job he truly liked. He hated going to work at sleazy nightclubs and dive bars making such a tiny salary, and as long as he was married to a competent woman who was working at a career she liked and was (barely) managing to make ends meet on her own, he didn't see why he needed to trouble himself. Jo would have had no problem with it if Rick had decided that he wanted to stay at home and take care of the cooking and cleaning while she worked, but he wasn't even willing to do that. He considered those things "women's work." Jo wasn't able to pay all the bills on just her salary alone, and in order to make ends meet, she had no choice but to take a weekend job as a mechanic at the same garage where she'd worked during the summer months. To say the very least, Jo _did not _appreciate it that she had to work two jobs to support herself and her husband while he laid around in their apartment all day long watching TV and didn't do the slightest thing to help out around their home. In the months of September and October, Jo and Rick were constantly fighting and yelling, and the atmosphere of their home had become downright toxic. Their marriage had become an absolute nightmare for Rick and especially for Jo.

Finally, that November, it all fell apart. Rick confessed to Jo that several weeks before, his first love, his high school sweetheart Susan Thomas, had bumped into him at a bar. They'd spent a lot of time together while Jo was at work, and they'd rekindled their old flame. After indulging in an affair with Susan during that time, Rick decided that marrying Jo had ultimately been a mistake. Rick told Jo on an unforgettable cold November afternoon that he would be speaking to a lawyer about trying to get a quick divorce, and then he fervently apologized to Jo before walking out of her life – for good.

Six weeks later, just a couple of days before Christmas, their divorce became final, and Jo really started sinking into depression. All her life, Jo had sworn to herself that she would never let her marriage become as terrible as her parents' marriage was; that she would never get divorced like they did. At least Charlie and Rose Polniaczek had managed to stick it out for a number of years before they finally broke down and called it quits. Jo hadn't even been able to stay married for one single year. To say the least, she felt like quite a failure. Rick's rejection of her really did a number on her self-esteem. She'd grown up struggling with a low self-esteem because of the way her own father had abandoned her as a kid, and getting abandoned yet again by her own husband only brought those old feelings back to the surface and made all that old pain so much worse. When Rick had moved out of their apartment in November, that's when Jo's struggle with depression began in earnest. She began losing interest in a number of things she previously enjoyed, and she fell into the habit of spending all her free time locked away in her apartment, just lying around on the couch, watching TV, and overeating. Whenever she wasn't at work or out grocery shopping or running other necessary errands, she was lying around at home, locked away from the rest of the world, licking her wounds in private. Had this happened with Mrs. Garrett and the rest of her Eastland family around, they would have gotten Jo to snap out of it a lot sooner, and Rick would've found himself six feet under! However, the cold hard fact of the matter was, the family Jo had come to cherish so much for so many years of her life had all gone their separate ways, and now, Jo was truly on her own.

Not long after relocating to SoHo, Natalie wrote a nonfiction book that made _The New York Times _bestseller list, which really helped to put her on the map as a writer. Almost immediately after Natalie's book hit the shelves, she was offered a job as a reporter at _The Washington Post_, which she naturally accepted, and she was now living in Washington, D.C. Tootie and her fiancé Jeff spent the summer in London together, taking summer courses in college there as planned. Then at the end of August, Jeff was offered a job as a sportscaster at a local TV station in London and it was such a great offer financially that he just couldn't turn it down. Consequently, Tootie shocked everyone by deciding to continue her education in London and agreeing to elope with Jeff. And Tootie wasn't the only one of the girls to shock the family with a sudden elopement, either. In May of that year, not long after Jo and Rick moved into their apartment in the city, Blair met a kind, generous, patient, handsome, and yes, _very rich _man named Tad Warner, and it was truly love at first sight. They dated for the next three months, and then after Blair and Tad hired the right people to come in and take care of Eastland and the community center for Blair, they too ran off to Europe and eloped. After treating themselves to a honeymoon touring a number of countries throughout Europe, Blair and Tad moved into Tad's mansion in Paris, and Blair decided to continue going to law school there. Pippa, the young foreign exchange student who'd been staying with Beverly Ann, Andy, and the girls for the past several months while attending school at Eastland, had to return to Australia at the end of the school year in June when her father decided that he wanted her living at home again. And after Blair moved to France to live with her new husband that August, that was basically the last straw for Beverly Ann and Andy. With Pippa and all the girls now out of the house, Beverly Ann saw no reason to stay in Peekskill anymore, and she moved back to Appleton with Andy to be near all her other siblings and their families there.

Sadly, things didn't go quite as well for Mrs. Garrett as they did for most everyone else. In September of last year, just two weeks before hers and Bruce's two-year commitment to the Peace Corps was up, Bruce died suddenly of a stroke. To put it mildly, Mrs. Garrett was devastated. After she finished out her time in the Peace Corps, she really struggled to figure out what to do with her life next. She knew she could always go back to her house in Peekskill, but she really didn't see the point. Edna and Beverly Ann and the girls had all decided some time ago to sell their shop, and besides, the girls were no longer a bunch of troublemaking teenage Eastland students in need of a guardian. They were all grown independent women now with lives of their own. As bitter of a pill as it was to swallow, Mrs. Garrett had to admit that her girls simply did not need her like they used to anymore. Bruce had left her more than enough money for her to live comfortably on for the rest of her life, and she knew she could easily go back to her house in Peekskill and kick back and start enjoying her retirement, but again, she didn't see the point. What was she supposed to do all day while she was "enjoying her retirement"? Watch TV? Sew? Read? Play bingo with the other senior citizens at the community center? She couldn't imagine a more depressing life than that. Although the sudden loss of Bruce was a crushing blow to her, she knew she couldn't use it as an excuse to come back to her home in Peekskill and just lay around all day. As difficult as it was, she knew she had to keep going, keep working, for her own sake and for the sake of others. She knew without a doubt that if she didn't keep her mind continually occupied with helping her fellow man, her grief would drive her insane. Thankfully, just one day before her job with the Peace Corps was set to end, she learned of a group of missionaries from a small church back in the States that were going to arrive in Africa in two days. She contacted them and asked if they had room for one more missionary to join their group, and the truth of the matter was, they needed all the help they could get and they knew it, so they were more than happy to have her. Their missionary work in Africa was going to last for the next four months, and it was precisely what Mrs. Garrett needed. For the next four months, Mrs. Garrett helped provide food, medicine, and a number of vital health services, as well as preaching the gospel. Even though she was in terrible pain inside from the sudden loss of her husband, working in the missionary group helped bring her closer to Christ than she'd ever been before, and it made her much stronger and more resilient than she already was.

However, in mid-January when the church's mission trip came to an end, Edna had a gut feeling that it was time for her to return to America. More specifically, to Massachusetts where her son lived. Her older son Raymond's marriage had really been on the rocks the past couple of years, but when Raymond and his wife Doris found out that Raymond was sterile, that officially became the straw that broke the camel's back. Doris had yearned for children her whole life, and when she learned that Raymond could never biologically father a child, that was it for her, and she filed for a divorce a few months before. Their divorce had only recently become final, and Mrs. Garrett knew from personal experience just how much pain her son was in. Her own heart had been shattered when she and Raymond's father had gotten divorced many years before, and she knew that Raymond was really hurting now, and that he needed her. When Mrs. Garrett called Raymond and asked him if he wanted her to come and stay with him for a while, he happily agreed.

For the next seven weeks, Mrs. Garrett really enjoyed staying with her son. After losing Bruce, it was very therapeutic for her to spend some quality time with Raymond, and it was equally therapeutic for Raymond to have his mother around after everything he'd been through as well. However, even though Edna was pouring a lot of her time and energy into helping her son get through the emotional aftermath of his recent divorce, that didn't mean that she'd forgotten Jo. When Mrs. Garrett got Jo's letter in December informing her of her divorce from Rick, she made sure to call Jo as often as possible to check on her and see how she was doing, and of course it wasn't always easy making phone calls while out in the mission field in Africa. During their long-distance telephone conversations, Jo always insisted that she was alright when Mrs. Garrett asked about her, and when Jo asked about Mrs. Garrett, she just as stubbornly insisted that everything was fine despite the fact that her husband had unexpectedly died only months before.

Then in the middle of March, Jo had nine glorious days off for spring break. For the past several months, she'd just basically kept herself locked away in her tiny apartment in New York City, comfort eating and privately licking her wounds. But Jo knew she couldn't allow herself to go on that way forever. It was true that she'd developed some bad habits since Rick's painful betrayal, and being alone didn't exactly help. Shortly after New Year's Day, Jo's mother announced that she was moving away to Miami with her new boyfriend, and in February, her father found a new job in Dallas that paid much more than his current job was paying, so he too left New York. One of the few pros of leaving Peekskill behind to live in New York City was being able to be somewhat closer to her parents, and after they moved away from New York, it only increased her sense of isolation and depression. But four days before school was going to be closed for spring break, the school principal offered Jo the use of his cabin in Massachusetts for her vacation. Determined to start breaking out of her shell and get back out into the world once again, Jo accepted his offer, knowing that it would probably be a very good thing for her.

The Friday afternoon that school let out for spring break, Jo rushed home and quickly packed a couple of bags, and then she hit the road. A few hours later, she arrived at the cabin, and she was so exhausted that she didn't even bother to make herself any dinner. She just crawled right into bed and passed out for the rest of the night.

When Jo woke up the next morning, she was ravenous, and she decided to go out to a nearby restaurant and treat herself to a _huge _breakfast. After returning to the cabin at about ten-thirty that morning, Jo took off her coat and went back into the cabin's master bedroom…and caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror. Jo still had her lovely long brunette hair, captivating green eyes, and beautiful face, but it was obvious that all the months of overeating had taken their toll. Jo could tell that she had definitely put on a few since the divorce.

"Alright, Polniaczek. Let's get this over with," Jo said to herself, and then she walked into the master bathroom and stood up on the scale. When she looked down and saw the numbers for herself, she shook her head at herself and let out a long sigh. "That's it, Polniaczek," Jo scolded herself while looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror a moment later. "As of this moment, you are officially going on a diet."

After scolding herself a good bit inside over the next five minutes for the extra twenty pounds she had gained, Jo decided that since Mrs. Garrett was relatively close-by now, she'd give her a call and see what she was up to.

After the first ring, Mrs. Garrett picked up and said, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. G.," Jo responded.

"Hey, Jo. It's so great to hear from you. Did you get to the cabin safely last night?" (In their last telephone conversation days before, Jo had told Mrs. Garrett all about her plans for spring break.)

"Sure did. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to get together sometime this week while I'm here in Massachusetts."

"Of course I would. I'd come over to your friend's cabin to visit you today if I could, but Raymond's taking me out to lunch and then I have to go shopping for a baby gift. Raymond's next-door neighbor is having a baby shower later on this afternoon."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Mrs. Garrett. I'll be here all week long. We'll have plenty of time to see each other and catch up."

"Well, we don't necessarily have to be in the same room to catch up with each other. Tell me. How have you been doing lately?"

"Mrs. G., you don't have to do that," Jo said kindly. "Back when I was a teenager at Eastland, you were everything to me. You were my nutritionist, my disciplinarian, my teacher, my counselor, my mother, my nurse, my friend. You don't have to do all of that for me now. You don't have to worry about me anymore. I'm not a kid any longer."

"I know that, silly. But no matter how old you get, I'll always worry about you girls, just like I'll always worry about my sons. I can't help it. It's automatic."

"I know, and I love you for it," Jo said gently. "What I meant to say was, you don't have to put yourself on the back burner for our sakes any longer. You've already raised your sons and the girls and me. We're all adults now. I think that now, you really ought to be putting yourself first. Don't worry about me and my divorce and everything, Mrs. G. I can handle it. I'm fine. I think you're the one we need to be concerned about. I know you've been going through a lot of pain since Bruce passed a few months ago. It's okay if you need to talk about it, you know."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and Jo instantly regretted bringing up the subject of Bruce's death. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Garrett. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to let you know that it's okay if you need to open up to someone. For what it's worth, I'm always here for you if you want to talk to me."

"I know that, honey. And I thank you. I'm sorry. I know you were just trying to be helpful. It's just so hard to think about it."

"I understand. Again, I'm really sorry I mentioned it."

"Oh, no. Don't be. I know you were just trying to help, and I appreciate it so much. I really do. It's just that if I allow myself to think about it too much, I start to go crazy. I appreciate what you said about how I shouldn't put myself on the back burner anymore, but the truth is, _I have _to keep my mind on others right now. _I have _to find ways to do things for other people and keep busy. If I don't, I know I'll just lose my mind."

"I think I can relate. Back when Gail died, I was the same way. I poured myself into my schoolwork and my part-time jobs like never before. I had to have something else to focus on besides the pain. I guess that's why I've developed all my bad habits as of late. It gives me something else to think about besides getting dumped by my own husband after not even a year of marriage."

"Well first of all, Rick Bonner is an unbelievable fool and if he's too blind and stupid to see it for himself what a great treasure you are, that's nobody's fault but his own," said Mrs. Garrett as Jo smiled. "And second of all, what bad habits have you been getting into?"

"Laying around the apartment too much. Not exercising like I used to anymore. Watching too much TV. Overeating and feeling sorry for myself."

After another silence, Mrs. Garrett softly said, "It sounds like you've really been in a lot of pain, Jo."

"Yeah, I have been," Jo sighed. "You know, after Pop left Ma and me back when I was a kid, I used to ask myself all the time what it was about me that made me so terrible, so unlovable, that my own father wouldn't want to be with me anymore. Now, I'm asking myself the same question about my husband. I mean, my ex-husband. I keep wondering what it is about me that made Rick decide that he didn't love me anymore. I mean, I know in my head that what happened to me is not my fault; that Rick is the one who has the problem. But I can't seem to get my heart to understand that."

"Oh, believe me, Jo. I know exactly how you feel. I never told you girls about this, but I didn't decide to divorce my first husband just because of his gambling addiction. There were other women involved. _A lot _of other women."

"Oh, Mrs. G., I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Jo. It happened years ago, and I've long since moved on. But the reason I brought it up is because when I tell you that I know how you feel, I want you to know that I'm not just spouting mindless platitudes. I want you to know that when I say I know how you feel, I'm telling the truth. _I really do _know how you feel. I know what it's like to be utterly, completely rejected by your own husband and then be left behind to pick up the broken pieces of your life and try to put them back together again all on your own. You don't recover from a divorce in a day or a week or a month. It takes time, a lot of time, to fully recover from such a deep wound. So don't be too hard on yourself. Be patient with yourself, Jo. Give yourself time. It's okay to not feel like your normal self right now. It's okay to have days when you really struggle. I know I sure did. It hurts, sure. It's difficult, sure. But it's all part of the process of healing. You have to go through a number of dark hours before the dawn finally comes. _But dawn does come, Jo. _I promise you."

"Thank you for saying that, Mrs. G.," Jo told her with silent tears streaming down her face. After hearing Edna Garrett's words of wisdom, Jo began to feel something she hadn't felt in a long time: hope. Maybe, just maybe, things actually _would _get better eventually. As usual, Mrs. Garrett was right. It really was foolish for her to expect to be over something as deeply painful as a divorce overnight. Maybe she really did need to start being a little more patient with herself and give herself time to truly heal. "You know something, Mrs. Garrett? With all my talk of me being an adult now and not needing you to be my surrogate mother anymore, the truth is, I don't know what I would do without you. I felt that way when I was a troubled teen at Eastland, and I think I feel that way even more now."

"Well of course you do. I'm the best," Mrs. Garrett teased, and she and Jo laughed.

"You say that jokingly, Mrs. G., but the truth is, you really _are _the best."

"And so are you, honey," Mrs. Garrett told her seriously. "So are you."

Jo smiled and said, "You're always doing things like that. Encouraging me. Lifting me up. The one thing about you that I appreciate more than anything else is the fact that you're not fickle. You never change like so many people do nowadays."

"You mean…people like Rick?"

"Yeah."

"It's true, Jo, that I couldn't possibly love you any more if you were my own daughter. And it's also true that no matter what happens, I will always be there for you to the best of my ability. But there's Someone who knows how to be there for you even better than I do. I think that now, you need to be leaning on Him more than ever."

Knowing what Mrs. Garrett meant, Jo nodded and said, "You're right, Mrs. G. You know, I still have the Bible you gave me as a 'wedding present' all those years ago when I was threatening to run off and elope with Eddie. Ever since Rick left, I've been getting this feeling in the back of my mind that I should start reading it again."

"I think Somebody is trying to tell you something."

"I think you're right. Mrs. Garrett, do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

"Of course not. Go right ahead."

"What made you first decide to become a Christian?"

"You know, that's a good question," Mrs. G. said with a laugh. "Whenever people talk about it nowadays, they go on about these moving conversion experiences they had and how they walked up to the altar in their local church and said the sinner's prayer. And for some people, it can happen that way, but for me, it was quite different. Both of my parents made sure I knew the gospel since practically before I could crawl. And because they _practiced _what they preached and I could clearly see the light of Christ shining in them through the way they lived their lives, I was always drawn to the Lord. I was very blessed, to say the least. Our family had its share of hard times just like any other family, but when the hard times came, my parents had this indescribable peace in their lives. They knew beyond a doubt that no matter what trials came their way, Jesus was always going to be there for them and get them through it. I'm not saying that they never went through pain and hardship and struggles because they definitely did, just like everybody else. But no matter what they were going through, deep down, they were still able to cling to a supernatural peace and hope that no matter what came there way, Jesus was always going to see them through it. And as I was growing up, I knew I wanted the kind of inner-peace that they always had inside. And when I was fourteen, I decided that I was going to trust in Jesus Christ to save me from the eternal penalty of my sins so that I could be with Him forever in the next life, and that I was going to trust in Him to always be there for me in this one. After all these years, He hasn't failed me once. There's certainly been pain and heartache and struggles and trials, but none of it was ever in vain. Every trial I ever went through made me a stronger, more resilient, more patient and compassionate person in the end, and I know I have the good Lord to thank for that."

"I have to admit, I think I envy you a bit, Mrs. G. I wish I had grown up in a home like yours with parents who actually took their faith in Christ seriously and set a good example and taught me the gospel, I mean, _the real gospel. _Don't get me wrong. You know I love my mom and dad. But when it comes to their so-called faith in Christ, they didn't always set the best example. And as far as the gospel is concerned, it wasn't until years after I started reading the Bible that you gave me that I came to realize that it really is all about simple trust in Christ and what He did for humanity on the cross. As a Catholic, I grew up believing that you had to earn your relationship with God through going to confession and doing enough acts of penance. For a long time when I was growing up, I didn't even try to get close to Jesus because I knew I could never be good enough on my own. As I know you remember, I even considered becoming a nun once because at the time, it was the only way I could think of to have a relationship with God."

Again, Mrs. Garrett laughed, and she said, "Oh yes, I remember. Blair's stepsister Meg had come to see her at Eastland, and Blair was livid when she found out that Meg had decided to become a nun."

"Then when I announced that I wanted to become a nun, too, that's when it really hit the fan."

"It certainly did. As I recall, you and Blair eventually got into a shouting match that ended with you punching Blair in the jaw."

Jo knowingly laughed, and then she admitted, "Yeah, that wasn't exactly my finest moment. It's just that I've always really loved God, and when Blair started acting so disrespectful towards Him, it made me so mad that I physically lashed out at her. That doesn't excuse what I did, of course. I get that now. I know that the way I responded to Blair was absolutely terrible."

"Yes, it was. However, looking back, I don't think I handled it too much better than you did."

"Don't tell me _you _punched Blair, too!" Jo kidded.

"Of course not," Mrs. G. said with a laugh. "But when I was talking with Blair later on that day and she just kept on and on disrespecting the Lord, it really got me angry and upset inside, and I think I let my emotions get the best of me. I don't mean any disrespect towards you when I say this, Jo. I know that you were born and raised in the Catholic church. But if I'm going to be completely honest with you, I have to confess that as a Christian myself, I feel that there is no way that I can be supportive of Catholicism, because I think it's fairly obvious that Catholicism preaches a false gospel based on earning your own salvation through your own works rather than trusting in Christ. And that day, I was so upset at the way Blair was disrespecting God and attacking Meg for wanting to live her life for God that in my discussion with Blair, I backed Meg's decision to become a nun, despite my personal convictions about Catholicism. Looking back on that today, I realize that it probably wasn't the best way for me to respond to the situation."

"Well first off, I don't feel at all that your opinions of Catholicism are disrespectful to me. As you said, I was raised a Catholic, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I've never gotten close to the Lord by jumping through all the religious hoops that Catholicism requires of you. The only way I've ever been able to feel close to Jesus throughout my life was simply by trusting Him and what He did for me on the cross to save me from my sins. Trusting Jesus to save us instead of trusting in ourselves is the bottom line. Period. It's always about trust, and knowing that Jesus did for us what _we couldn't _do for ourselves."

"Agreed."

"And second, yes, you were wrong to go against your personal convictions and back Catholicism in your conversation with Blair that day, but don't be too hard on yourself. It's understandable that you would be emotional and upset and say things you wish you hadn't said. After all, this is _Blair_ we're talking about, here. Blair makes _everybody _upset. That's just her nature."

Mrs. Garrett laughed out loud, and then she said, "Oh Jo, you never change. If you and Blair live to be two hundred years-old, even then, you two will _still_ be going at each other's throats."

"That's true. There are a rare few things in this world that simply do not change."

Yet again, Mrs. G. laughed, and she told Jo, "I really have missed you."

"I've missed you too, Mrs. G. You know how much I love my mother, but the truth is, I could never really open up to her and talk to her. Not in the same way that you and I are talking now."

"As long as we're confessing deep personal secrets, I may as well go on and admit that I've often felt the same way about you girls. These past few weeks that I've been spending with Raymond is the most time I've spent with him in years, and I almost never see Alex anymore. They write to me and call me every now and then, but it's not nearly enough. It really hurts sometimes that my sons and I are so distant from each other now. But when I married Bruce and went back into the Peace Corps, it was different with you girls. Even after all this time after we went our separate ways, I still get letters from you and the girls constantly. I want you to know how much that means to me, Jo."

"I feel the same way. Your letters have been one of the few things that has made these past few months bearable."

"I'm so glad."

"And I want you to know that I can't wait to see you this week."

"I can't wait either. Shall I drive up to your friend's cabin and take you out to lunch tomorrow afternoon?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say yes, but I don't want to tempt myself by eating out. Like I said earlier, ever since Rick left, I've been doing way too much comfort eating. I stepped on my friend's bathroom scale this morning. Turns out, I've gained twenty pounds."

"Don't feel too bad, dear. It happens to the best of us; believe me. Tell you what. We'll go out somewhere tomorrow afternoon and have a couple of salads for lunch. My treat. How about that?"

"That sounds terrific, Mrs. G.," said Jo. But then just as she was about to say something else to Mrs. Garrett, all of the sudden, the most horrific pain ripped through her abdomen, and she let out a scream.

"Jo?!" cried out an alarmed Mrs. Garrett. "Jo, are alright?! Are you there? Jo, talk to me!"

A couple of seconds later after the pain subsided, Jo said, "Sorry about that, Mrs. G. I just got this crazy intense pain in my stomach. I don't know what's going on with me today."

"Is the pain in your lower right abdomen?" Mrs. Garrett asked. She'd been a registered nurse for many years and naturally, the nurse in her kicked in and she started thinking of all kinds of possibilities of what it was that could be ailing Jo now. At the moment, she was wondering if Jo might be suffering from appendicitis.

"No, it wasn't just in my lower right abdomen. _All _of my abdomen just cramped up. My whole stomach felt as hard as a rock for a few seconds. It was crazy."

"Are you in any pain now?"

"No. No, I'm fine, now. It was probably nothing. I bet I just ate too much at breakfast this morning."

"That could be it. Maybe you ought to lie down for a little while."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"I'll let you go now so you can get into bed, but if the pain comes back and it gets any worse, call me and I'll come up there."

"Don't worry about me, Mrs. Garrett. Forget about me. I'm a big girl. I'll be fine. You just go out and enjoy lunch with Raymond today and then enjoy yourself at that baby shower. That's an order from your resident Bronx barbarian loudmouth."

Mrs. Garrett chuckled then and said to Jo, "Listen, you may be a Bronx barbarian loudmouth, but I'm an Appleton mama, and mamas _always _outrank loudmouth upstarts." Jo laughed at that. "You don't give the orders, here. I do."

Knowing that she didn't stand a chance against Mrs. G., Jo simply responded with, "Yes, ma'am."

"And if the pain comes back, I want you to call me. _That _is an order. I'll give you the number of the restaurant Raymond and I are going to this afternoon for lunch. And if you need me later on in the day while I'm at the baby shower, call the house, because Raymond will be here and he can go to the neighbor's house across the street and get me."

Again, Jo laughed at how Mrs. Garrett was fussing over her like the sweet, thoughtful, kind, beautiful mother hen that she was. "I'll be fine, Mrs. G. I promise."

"You promise you'll call me if the pain gets any worse?"

"I promise."

"Good."

"Enjoy your lunch with Raymond, Mrs. G. And have fun at that baby shower."

"I will. And you take care of yourself."

"I will. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," said Mrs. Garrett, and then both she and Jo hung up the phone.


	2. A Shocking Diagnosis

**A/N: **See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer.

**Chapter 2: A Shocking Diagnosis**

Once Jo hung up the phone, she knew she had to admit it to herself that she felt much better after talking to Mrs. G. There was something about that dear lady that was almost…angelic in a sense. She seemed to have this uncanny ability to always be there for people when they needed help the most. Just knowing that she had someone in her life like Mrs. Garrett who clearly cared about her _so much _really lifted her spirits.

Unfortunately, Jo's good mood didn't last too much longer. About twenty minutes after her conversation with Mrs. Garrett was over, Jo got another horrific pain in her abdomen. The cramp passed a few seconds later and Jo was able to relax again, but it was terribly unnerving to say the least. Jo Polniaczek was _not _weak in the face of pain. She was very tough and she could take a whole lot, but the pain of these freak stomach cramps was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. Jo knew her own body, and she knew that whatever it was that was going on, it was _not _normal. Jo made up her mind that she would give it some time and if things didn't get better, she _would _break down and drive herself to the nearest hospital, even though she despised hospitals and emergency rooms with a terrible vengeance.

As the rest of the day went by, things didn't get any better. In fact, they only got worse. _Much _worse. Finally, at around six o'clock that evening, Jo decided that she couldn't take it anymore and that like it or not, she had to get to the hospital. However, the pains were so excruciating and intense and they were lasting so much longer now and coming a lot closer together. Jo managed to get up out of bed, but after taking just a couple of steps, she doubled over in agony. Jo realized then that there was no way she was getting to the hospital without help. She hated bothering Mrs. G., but she knew now that she had no choice. She had to call her.

An anxious Mrs. Garrett picked up the phone on the first ring. She'd been very concerned about Jo all day long. "Hello?" she said.

"It's me, Mrs. G.," came Jo's agonized voice on the other end. Mrs. Garrett could easily tell that Jo was in terrible pain.

"Jo, sit tight. I'm coming. I'll be on my way to your friend's cabin as soon as we hang up."

"I need to get to the…hospital. I can't…get out to my car on my own," Jo explained. (Soon after she and Rick relocated to New York City, Jo decided to buy a used car for herself. She still had her bike, of course, but most of the time, Jo preferred using her car instead of her motorcycle.)

"I'm coming, Jo. I'm on my way right now. Just give me the address to your friend's cabin."

Jo then gave Mrs. Garrett the address and directions on how to get there, and they hung up and Mrs. Garrett started walking out the door.

Just as she grabbed her nurse's bag out of Raymond's hall closet, though, he stopped her. He'd overheard his mother's brief conversation with Jo, and he was concerned.

"Ma, that's an hour-long drive. And you know what the weather is like right now. Despite the fact that it's supposed to be spring right now, the weatherman is saying there's this giant freak snowstorm on the way. There's already a lot of snow and ice out on the roads and it's only getting worse. You can't go up there, Ma. It's too dangerous."

Mrs. Garrett laughed at her son a little bit and told him, "Raymond, I assure you, I've dealt with much tougher things in my life besides a little snow and ice. And besides, Jo really needs me right now."

The instant Raymond saw that fiery determination in his mom's blue eyes, he knew there would be no stopping her. She _was_ going to get to Jo tonight no matter what. "Well, since you're determined to go, at least let me drive you."

"Didn't you say you had a lot of work to catch up on this evening?"

"Yes, I did say that, and it's true. But your safety is more important. I don't want you to go out there in this crazy weather all by yourself."

Mrs. Garrett laughed once again and said, "Raymond, you're being silly. I'm not a child, you know. I've been through lots of snowstorms before and I'll be perfectly alright. You stay here and catch up on your work. That's an order."

Knowing better than to try to argue, Raymond responded with a simple, "Yes, ma'am."

Mrs. Garrett smiled, and then she hugged Raymond and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you when I get there."

"Please do. You be careful now."

"I will," she assured him, and then she put on her coat and left.

* * *

Due to the terrible road conditions, it took Mrs. Garrett an hour and a half to get to the cabin, and when she arrived, she didn't even bother knocking. She could hear Jo yelling in pain even from outside, and she immediately opened the door and walked inside. Moments later, she found Jo in the master bedroom of the cabin, lying in bed in obvious agony.

"Jo?" she said while touching Jo's shoulder, and then Jo opened her eyes. "Honey, I'm here."

"Something's killing me, Mrs. Garrett. I don't know what it is. I don't know what's wrong with me. But whatever it is, it's going to kill me."

"No it's not," Mrs. Garrett told her firmly. "I know you're in a lot of pain right now, sweetheart, but whatever the problem is, we're going to figure it out and get it fixed and you're going to be just fine." She then took off her coat and sat down on the side of the bed. In the next moment, she said to Jo, "I'm going to examine you now, okay?"

Jo nodded, and then Mrs. G. began performing a thorough examination of Jo's abdomen. Given all her experience as a nurse in the Peace Corps, she had performed numerous exams of pregnant women in her time, and she'd also assisted with many deliveries. And when she carefully felt and pressed around Jo's abdomen in those moments, she knew without a doubt that what she was feeling was…a baby! Mrs. Garrett then opened up her nurse's bag and pulled out her stethoscope and listened intently to Jo's abdomen for the next minute or so. It took her a few seconds, but she found the baby's heartbeat, which sounded good and strong.

At last, she took the earpieces of the stethoscope out of her ears, and she looked Jo in the eyes and asked her, "Jo, did you know that you were pregnant?"

"What are you talking about, Mrs. G.? I'm not pregnant," Jo insisted.

"I just listened to your baby's heartbeat. Believe me. _You are pregnant._"

"But that's impossible. You must be mistaken. I haven't been missing any periods. As a matter of fact, I just had my last period two weeks ago. And I've never had any morning sickness or weird food cravings. I've been eating a lot and I've put on a few pounds, yes, but come on. Do I really look pregnant to you?" asked Jo, and it was true. She was obviously thicker around the middle now, but she certainly didn't have the typical round pregnancy belly that most women get.

Mrs. Garrett shook her head and responded, "Every pregnancy for every woman is different, Jo. When I was pregnant with Raymond, I hardly had any nausea at all. When I was pregnant with Alex, I had morning sickness every single day, even in my third trimester. And it's not uncommon for pregnant women to have spotting during their pregnancies. Sometimes a pregnant woman can think she's on her period when she's really spotting."

"I can't believe it. _I don't _believe it. This is crazy. I mean, yeah, okay, several months ago when Rick and I were fighting all the time and our marriage was on the rocks, I missed a couple of periods. I just thought I missed them because of all the stress in my life at the time, but I took a pregnancy test to be on the safe side. But it was _negative_, Mrs. G. And every single month after that, I got my period just like I always do."

"It wasn't your period, Jo. You were spotting," Mrs. Garrett insisted. "And as for the pregnancy test, it's quite common to get a false negative. It happens all the time."

"I can't believe this," said Jo, clearly in shock. "So what are you trying to tell me? Are you trying to tell me that these weird pains I've been getting all day are labor pains or something?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

"That's exactly what they are," Mrs. Garrett responded to Jo's horror.

"You can't be serious," Jo said with dread.

Mrs. Garrett locked eyes with Jo in that moment and told her, "I'm dead serious. I know this is coming as a huge shock to you, Jo. I know it's a lot to take in all at once. But the cold hard fact of the matter is, _you are _pregnant, and _you are _going to have a baby tonight."

"But I can't have a baby tonight. I don't have anything! I don't have any bottles or formula or baby clothes. And I can't even _begin _to start saving up for college right now. I'm just barely getting by myself. How am I going to provide for myself and a baby? How am I supposed to do this?" Jo asked as tears filled her eyes.

Mrs. G. then took Jo's hand in hers, maintained eye contact, and told her, "One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time. One problem at a time. One situation at a time. Just like any other parent. Don't waste any time worrying about the future, Jo. Just take things as they come. Don't worry about baby clothes and formula and college right now. There'll be plenty of time to deal with those things later. Right now, you just need to try to stay as calm as you can and focus on bringing your little one into the world. Alright?"

After a brief pause, Jo nodded.

"Don't worry, Jo. We'll get through this together. Everything's going to be alright. I promise you."

Again, Jo nodded. Then in the following moment, she started having a contraction, and Mrs. Garrett let Jo squeeze the life out of her hand and scream her head off while she timed the contraction.

As soon as it was over, Mrs. Garrett said, "In a minute, I'm going to call an ambulance to come and take us to the nearest hospital. I know I could take you myself, but I'm afraid that with all the bad weather, I'd take too long to get there, and we need to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. First, though, I'd like to perform a vaginal exam if I may. I want to see how far you've progressed so I can inform the paramedics when they get here."

"Go ahead, Mrs. G.," Jo told her.

When Mrs. Garrett examined Jo moments later, she was quite surprised to find out just how close Jo actually was to delivering her baby. She found that Jo was nine centimeters dilated and ninety-five percent effaced. Given the fact that Jo's friend's cabin was practically out in the middle of nowhere and they were over fifty miles away from the nearest hospital, not to mention the fact that the roads were now covered with snow and ice, Mrs. Garrett knew that there was no way Jo was going to get to the hospital in time. Mrs. Garrett had lots of nursing experience under her belt and she had assisted in quite a few deliveries in her time, but she'd never delivered a baby all on her own before without being under the supervision of a doctor. She knew firsthand about all the unexpected problems that could happen with a mother and a baby during delivery, and just thinking about it all right now really unnerved her to say the least. If something were to happen to Jo now…Mrs. Garrett just couldn't bear the thought.

Mrs. Garrett then rushed into the living room and dialed 9-1-1, and an ambulance was dispatched but she was warned that it would probably be a good while before the paramedics arrived because of the distance and the bad weather. Then immediately after she hung up the phone, Jo began screaming her way through another contraction.

Jo had several more contractions over the next half-hour, and Mrs. Garrett was right there, holding her hand and supporting her through them all. Then she decided to check her progress once again, and when she performed another exam, she found that Jo was fully dilated and one hundred percent effaced.

"Alright, Jo. It's time," Mrs. G. said after finishing the exam. "When the next contraction comes, I want you to push."

Jo nodded and said, "You're the nurse."

A few moments later, another contraction started, and Jo grabbed the backs of her thighs and held on for leverage while she pushed. As she was pushing, Mrs. Garrett was very encouraging, and she told her, "Yes, Jo. That's it. That's it. Push. You're doing a wonderful job." When the contraction ended and Jo stopped pushing, Mrs. Garrett said, "Good job, Jo. You're doing great."

Over the next few minutes, Jo pushed two more times like that, with Mrs. Garrett encouraging her all the way through it. She then asked, "Mrs. G., would you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"My back is killing me and I need some support behind me right now. Would you come around and sit behind me?"

"Of course I will, honey," said Mrs. Garrett. Then after getting a wet washcloth from the bathroom, she came and sat down on the bed behind Jo and supported her back and shoulders. A few seconds after she sat down, she started mopping Jo's brow with the wet washcloth. "You're doing beautifully, Jo."

Jo shook her head and said, "This isn't right, Mrs. Garrett. Something doesn't feel right. _I _don't feel right. Something's going wrong with me."

Mrs. Garrett shook her head and said, "Honey, don't be afraid. It's nothing to be scared of. Lots of women say that they don't feel normal when they're at this stage of their labor. I know how frightening all of these unusual feelings can seem, but it's actually perfectly normal. Everything's going to be alright, Jo. I'm here. I'm right here with you now."

"Oh, man. I need to push again."

"It's alright, Jo. Push. Just push," Mrs. Garrett told her, and she did. Afterwards, she leaned her head back on Mrs. Garrett's shoulder and rested her eyes while Mrs. G. bathed her face with the wet cloth.

"Good job, Jo. You're doing great. Now rest for a minute."

Feeling another contraction coming on, Jo shook her head and told Mrs. G., "One more."

"Okay," Mrs. Garrett whispered, and she continued supporting Jo while she pushed. She then told Jo, "Good job, honey. Good job. You're doing great. Now rest a second. Catch your breath."

"Right," Jo sighed, and again, she rested her head on Mrs. Garrett's shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Hang in there, Jo. You really are doing a wonderful job," Mrs. G. told her, and then Jo looked up at her and gave her a weak smile in response.

A few moments later, Jo told Mrs. Garrett, "I don't like this. This position doesn't feel right anymore."

Mrs. Garrett got up then and put a loving hand on Jo's shoulder and said, "It's alright, dear. Just tell me what you want to do and I'll help you." Jo then turned over and crouched on her hands and knees on top of the bed. "Does that feel any better?" she asked.

"I think so," Jo replied.

"Good," said Mrs. Garrett. Then in the next second, Jo's water broke. (Thankfully, Mrs. Garrett had already put several large towels on the bed underneath Jo.) As soon as it happened, she quickly got another armful of towels from the linen closet and replaced all the drenched towels with dry ones.

Once that task was accomplished, Jo suddenly cried out, "Mrs. G., check on the baby! Quick! It's coming!"

"It's alright, Jo. It's alright," she said as she looked to check Jo's progress for herself. And in that moment, she gasped when she saw what was happening. To her horror, she realized that Jo's baby was breech. It was coming out feet first.


	3. Grandma Garrett

**A/N: **See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer.

**Chapter 3: Grandma Garrett**

"Oh, God," Mrs. Garrett whispered to herself, not thinking that Jo could hear her.

"What is it, Mrs. G.? What's wrong?" asked a very worried Jo.

It was terribly difficult in those moments, but for the sake of Jo and her baby, Mrs. Garrett managed to stay in control of her emotions and act calm. "Jo, your baby is breech. It's coming feet first," she replied. "Jo, I know how hard it is, but for your baby's sake, you have to remain calm now. Just listen to me and do exactly as I say, alright?"

"I will," Jo told her. Then in the next moment, Jo had to push again, and when she did, all of her baby was delivered except the head.

"Jo, I need you to listen to me very carefully now," said Mrs. Garrett.

"I'm listening, Mrs. G."

"All of the baby is out except the head, and we need to get the head delivered as soon as possible. So when the next contraction comes, I need you to push with every ounce of strength you can muster. Give it everything you've got."

"I will," said Jo.

A few seconds later, Jo started having another contraction, and she did exactly as Mrs. Garrett said and gave a very hard push.

"Good job, Jo. The baby's out," Mrs. Garrett announced. But then, silence filled the room. _Not _the sound of a crying newborn.

Jo quickly turned around on her back so she could see her baby. "What's wrong, Mrs. Garrett? Why isn't my baby crying?"

"Give me a minute, Jo. Let me work," Mrs. Garrett told her as she started cleaning out the baby's nose and mouth with a towel. She then covered the baby's nose and mouth with her own mouth and gave it several breaths.

Finally, the tiny baby let out a loud cry, and both Jo and Mrs. Garrett began crying as well. Then Mrs. Garrett wrapped the baby up in a towel and gently placed the baby in Jo's arms.

"Congratulations, Jo. You're the mother of a beautiful, healthy-looking baby girl," Mrs. Garrett informed her.

As Jo stared down into the face of her newborn daughter, she was just overwhelmed with love for her. Just hours before, she hadn't even known that she'd been living inside her; she'd had no clue that this precious little life even existed. But now, Jo couldn't imagine her life without her.

"I can't believe it. She looks just like me," Jo said as tears of joy fell down her cheeks. And it was true. The baby girl had her father's blonde hair, but she had Jo's exquisite green eyes and Jo's nose and mouth and chin. With the exception of her hair, she was the very image of her mother.

"Oh Jo, she's gorgeous," Mrs. Garrett whispered as tears came to her eyes as well.

"I have a baby," Jo whispered in disbelief.

"A beautiful baby."

"Yeah. A beautiful, perfect little baby."

After several silent moments, Mrs. Garrett told Jo, "I think I'll go out to the living room and wait for the paramedics to get here. That'll give the two of you a chance to get acquainted."

Mrs. Garrett started to walk out then, but Jo stopped her. "Wait a minute, Mrs. G. Don't leave us. I like having you here with me. It's comforting to have you close-by."

"Alright, then. I'll stay right here," she said kindly, and then she sat down in the rocking chair in the corner and watched lovingly as Jo cradled her brand new bundle of joy in her arms.

* * *

The paramedics finally arrived about an hour later, and Mrs. Garrett followed them to the hospital in her car. Jo and the baby were examined by the OB/GYN on call that night and she assured Mrs. Garrett that both Jo and her baby were perfectly fine. However, she also determined that the baby was premature; that she had probably been born at around thirty-three or thirty-four weeks. She weighed four pounds, fourteen ounces. Her lungs were slightly underdeveloped, and Jo was told that her daughter would probably have to stay in the hospital for around the next three weeks or so until her lungs matured a little more and she gained some weight.

Mrs. Garrett called all the girls the next morning and told them about what happened. At first they didn't believe her, but she eventually managed to convince them that she wasn't joking around and that Jo actually _did_ give birth to a baby last night. The following day, the girls all arrived at the hospital in Massachusetts and they and Mrs. Garrett got together and threw Jo the biggest surprise baby shower ever in her hospital room. As one might expect, Blair _really _went crazy, and she bought Jo's baby more baby clothes, toys, socks, baby shoes, blankets, formula, bottles, pacifiers, and Pampers than any new mother and newborn could dream of. She also bought a crib, a bassinet, a baby swing, and a playpen and had them all sent to Jo's apartment. And while Mrs. Garrett and Natalie and Tootie couldn't give Jo and the baby as much as Blair could, Jo was deeply touched by their gifts as well. Mrs. Garrett gave the baby a pink, blue, and yellow blanket she knitted especially for her, and Tootie gave Jo a tape of lullabies she'd recorded for the baby. Natalie's gifts to the baby were a journal, a dictionary, and a thesaurus to help her refine her writing skills when she got older. Neither of Jo's parents could get away from their jobs just yet, so it would be a while before they finally met their new granddaughter, but they each informed Jo that they were sending her a number of baby gifts through the mail, which Jo appreciated (although she would have appreciated their presence a lot _more_ than any gift they sent to her.)

The girls stayed at an inn nearby and spent the next few days in Massachusetts, visiting with Jo and her baby every day that they were there. And obviously, Mrs. Garrett came to see them every chance she could get, and Raymond came to visit them a couple of times as well. However, Jo and everyone else was acutely aware of the notable absence of one person: the baby's father.

When Rick filed for a quickie divorce from Jo and moved in with his high school sweetheart Susan months before, sure, he did it because there was a lot of attraction between the two of them. A lot of history. But more than anything, he did it because being with Susan gave him a way to escape true adulthood. Susan was a successful attorney now and she made a substantial salary. She was pretty well off. And because her feelings for Rick had never changed in all these years, she actually didn't mind letting him live off her. As crazy as it was, she actually was in love with him, and she was perfectly happy to overlook his mooching ways as long as she could have him in her life. Rick actually had felt something for Jo at first, and at the time, he'd been convinced that he was in love with her. But then after the fun and celebration of the wedding day was over and he came back from his concert tour in Europe to start his married life with Jo, reality set in. All of the sudden, he found that he actually had to _be a husband_, and that being a husband meant that he had to _hold onto a job_, even if it was a job he hated. All of the sudden, he no longer had the option of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without any consideration for anybody else. After getting married, he slowly came to realize that he actually had to put his wife first in everything from now on. And that really depressed him. Leaving Jo and moving in with Susan meant that he could go right back to being a silly, self-centered little boy; that he no longer had to worry about _growing up and accepting adult responsibilities like a man._

So naturally, when Jo called him and told him what happened, he got angry and he absolutely refused to believe it. And when Jo tried to convince him to come to the hospital and see his baby for himself, that only made him angrier. Jo finally lost her cool and she really ripped into Rick, and Rick knew that if he didn't want to get his neck broken by his ex-wife, he'd better go to the hospital like she said.

* * *

"Is everything alright, Jo?" Mrs. Garrett asked just as Jo was hanging up the phone.

After Mrs. G. sat down in the chair beside Jo's hospital bed, Jo told her, "Oh, it's no big deal. I was just talking to Rick. Every conversation we ever have ends in a shouting match these days. It's nothing new."

"Is he finally coming to the hospital?"

"Yeah, but I really had to twist his arm. Rick may have left me for another woman, but I really do believe that the real reason he filed for a divorce had nothing to do with his affair. That was just a cover; an excuse. The real reason he left me was because I wouldn't let him get away with acting like a teenage boy all the time. He left me because I was trying to hold his feet to the fire and make him accept the responsibility of being a husband. And believe me, Rick's never been a fan of responsibility."

"Sounds a lot like my ex-husband. He wasn't a fan of responsibility either."

"If Rick was willing to end our marriage because he discovered that he didn't want the responsibilities of being a husband, how on earth will he react to this?"

"If he's anything like my ex, he'll run. He'll hit the road and run as far away from this as he can possibly get."

"That's what I'm afraid of. I just found out this morning when I talked to the school principal over the phone that my school is closing. I'll still get my maternity leave pay, thank God, and that'll keep the two of us afloat for a little while, but I'm going to have to find another job really soon. Maybe more than one. If we're just talking about me, I can make it on a teacher's salary. But if you add a baby to the equation, I really don't think it's possible. This is turning into such a nightmare, Mrs. Garrett. As you already know, I was a latchkey kid growing up. When Pop left us, Ma had to work at two jobs to support us, and I barely got to see her at all. I don't want that kind of life for my daughter. I don't want her growing up without a father, and I don't want her growing up a latchkey kid who never gets to see her mother."

"Jo…how would you feel about moving back to Peekskill with the baby and living with me? I still have the house. You know yourself that there's plenty of room for the three of us, and I personally think it's a much better neighborhood to raise a child in than the city. And I could help you with your little one. You two wouldn't be all on your own."

"I love you for that, Mrs. G. I really do. But ever since I was fifteen, you've been right there, bailing me out every time I did something stupid and got myself into trouble. For so much of my life, you've been rescuing me whenever things went wrong and I needed help. That was fine when I was a kid, but I'm a grown woman now. It's time for me to act like it. _I _got myself into this mess by rushing into getting married to a man I didn't really know. _I _got myself into this mess by being careless and having unprotected sex. And _I _have to be the one to accept responsibility for it and figure a way out. I can't just come running to you every time something goes wrong in my life anymore. My baby and I are not your responsibility."

"Fair enough," Mrs. Garrett said, and then there was a knock at the door, and a nurse pushed a hospital bassinet into the room, which of course had Jo's baby inside. Jo thanked the nurse and she left, and then Jo scooped her baby daughter up into her arms. Mrs. Garrett remained silent for several long moments as Jo lovingly gazed down into her daughter's face, and then after she got up from her seat, she told her, "From this moment forward, Jo, I won't ever try to bail you out of trouble or do anything to help you through a problem ever again. You're absolutely right. You are a grown woman now, and it's time for you to stand on your own without any help from me. But now you have to promise me something in return."

"What's that?" Jo asked, still gazing into her newborn daughter's precious little face.

"You have to promise me that the instant your little girl turns eighteen, you will never do anything to help her or support her in any way whenever she has a problem or makes a bad decision and gets into any kind of trouble."

Jo remained silent for the next few moments, and then she looked up at Mrs. Garrett and knowingly laughed. "You got me, Mrs. G. You know I could never make a promise like that."

"Of course you couldn't. And in the same token, you can't expect me to ever stop wanting to be there for you. I'm not your mother, of course, but I couldn't possibly love you any more if you were my very own daughter. Nobody's twisting my arm, Jo. I love you and your baby so much, and _I want _to do everything I possibly can to help you."

"I don't know what to say," Jo gasped as tears came to her eyes. "You're incredible, Mrs. Garrett."

"You mean you're only just now figuring that out?" Mrs. Garrett teased, and Jo laughed.

"Okay, Mrs. Garrett. You win. I'll move back in with you."

Mrs. Garrett then lovingly kissed the top of Jo's head, and she said, "Now that that's settled, it's time to get onto the next matter of business. You've got to decide on a name for your little one."

"I was thinking…Eden."

"Eden," said Mrs. Garrett. "Oh Jo, that's so beautiful."

"Every time I look into her little face, it's like…seeing a tiny piece of paradise. So it seems fitting that her name should be Eden. And also, Eden is as close to Edna as I can get. I figure after all you did to help me bring her into the world, it's only fair that she should be named after you."

"Oh Jo, I don't know what to say. I'm so honored."

"Now I can finally fill out her birth certificate. Miss Eden Dawn Bonner."

"That's absolutely beautiful, Jo."

"Yeah. Even if I do say so myself, it's not half bad. But still, I guess I should discuss it all with her father before I actually do fill out the birth certificate."

"Of course," Mrs. Garrett agreed.

Then she and Jo continued talking and fussing over the baby for the next couple of hours until Rick finally arrived. Jo allowed Rick to hold his baby daughter, of course, although it was painfully obvious how uncomfortable he was with her. Both Jo and Mrs. Garrett could tell that he would've gladly severed a limb to get out of that hospital room if he could.

After holding Eden for barely two minutes, he set her back down inside the hospital bassinet, and then he turned to Jo and said, "Well Jo, it was nice seeing you again." In the next moment, he started trying to walk out of the hospital room.

Thankfully, Mrs. G. quickly blocked his exit. "Not so fast, young man," she told him very sternly. "_You do not _get to run away from this. What are your plans?"

"Plans? What do you mean? What plans?"'

"I mean, you have a daughter to think about now. Everything isn't all about you anymore. You have to have some kind of plans to provide and care for your daughter. What are those plans? Jo deserves to know."

"I certainly do," said Jo as she picked Eden up out of the hospital bassinet and cradled her in her arms.

Rick then turned around towards Jo and said, "Well Jo, you're its mother. Can't you just handle it?"

Outraged, Jo yelled, "Eden is _not _an 'it,' Rick! She's not just some inanimate object you can just leave with me and forget about while you're off doing your own thing. _She's a human being. She's_ _precious_. And she deserves to have both her mother _and _her father in her life. Things may be over between you and me, but you cannot just run off and do whatever you please and forget about your own child."

"What makes you so sure it's mine?"

After Mrs. G. let out a _loud _groan of protest in the background, Jo said to Rick, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh come on, Jo. Don't try to act so nice and pure. We all know how it is in the real world. Nobody ever stays faithful, especially not when things get really tough. I'll bet I'm not the only one who started fooling around with other people when our marriage hit the rocks. People step out on each other all the time in this world. That's just life."

"Rick, just because _you_ didn't have any decency or integrity or self-control during our marriage doesn't mean that _I_ didn't. Unlike you, _I do _have the ability to keep my pants zipped up and stay faithful, even when times get tough. Just because _you_ happen to be an immature, self-centered, lying, cheating creep, that doesn't mean that _I_ am."

"Young man, I've got something I want to say to you," said Mrs. G. in her best no-nonsense voice, and Rick turned around to face her. "I don't believe that you actually think that Jo was fooling around with other men and that Eden isn't your baby. I think that you're just saying that because inside, _you know _that Jo was never unfaithful to you and that Eden is, without a doubt, your baby. And I think that scares you to death and you're trying to run away from it. I think it's quite obvious that from the moment you came out of your mother's womb, you've been given everything in the world except for proper discipline. And because you grew up so spoiled, you clearly believe that the whole world revolves around you and that it's perfectly okay for you to abandon the people who need you the most if being there for them and putting them first causes you a moment of discomfort. You've gotten away with this selfish, despicable attitude your entire life, but as of this moment, all of that is officially over. From here on out, you are going to start working a steady job, even if it's a job you don't like, and you are going to provide for your daughter. And not just financially, either. You are going to come to this hospital every chance you can, and you are going to hold your daughter in your arms and rock her and bond with her and feed her and change her and bathe her and do anything else you can think of to help Jo with her while she recovers from giving birth. And afterwards, once Jo and Eden have left the hospital and moved in with me, you are going to come by the house as often as you can and you are going to spend time with Eden and you are going to care for Eden and be a father to Eden and you are going to be a source of emotional support for Jo and do everything you possibly can to help her. She is the mother of your child, and _you will _respect her as such. _You are not _going to abandon Jo and leave her behind to raise Eden all on her own. It's not all about Rick Bonner anymore. From this moment forward, whether you like it or not, Jo and Eden are going to come first. And if you even _think _of abandoning Jo and Eden once you walk out of this room, I assure you, _you will answer directly to me. _I'm a registered nurse, and I know precisely what to do to inflict the greatest amount of pain on the human body. And if you _ever _neglect Jo and Eden or do _anything_ under to sun to hurt them in _any _way, I assure you, _I will _get ahold of you and _I will _make you wish that you had never been born! Do you understand me, young man?"

As Rick looked into the blue pools of fire that Mrs. Garrett's eyes had become, he knew better than to even _think _of trying to defy her. Really, there was no way he _could_ defy her, because deep down in his heart of hearts, underneath all of his childish stupidity, he knew that she was right. So he looked at her in that moment and said the only thing he possibly could: "Yes, ma'am." And then he quickly made his escape from the hospital room before Mrs. Garrett could do any more damage to his overblown ego.

Once Rick was gone, Jo said, "Once again, Mrs. G., I don't know what to say. Thank you for that."

"Don't mention it," said Mrs. Garrett with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I've been there, Jo. I've been a young mother, struggling to raise a family without an ounce of help from my self-centered, immature husband. I will do everything I possibly can for you and Eden, but _I will not _let her father get away with running off and refusing to do his part."

Jo locked her eyes with Mrs. Garrett's then and told her, "I don't know what I'd ever do without you, Mrs. Garrett."

Mrs. Garrett put a loving hand on Jo's shoulder and assured her, "That's one thing you'll never have to worry about. I'm always here for you and Eden, Jo. Always."

* * *

It was soon evident that Mrs. Garrett's diatribe really put the fear of God into Rick, because over the next three weeks, he came to the hospital every chance he could to spend time with Eden and help Jo with her. He also got a job and finally stopped mooching off his girlfriend, and he started helping Jo out financially as well.

After Eden had spent three weeks in the hospital, her lungs had completely matured and she weighed in at six pounds, ten ounces, and she was declared healthy enough to go home. She'd had a brief episode of jaundice, but it was common for premature babies and it quickly cleared up, and when Jo and Mrs. Garrett brought her home from the hospital, she was in excellent shape.

Two days after they brought Eden home, Blair informed Jo that a teaching position would be open at Eastland next fall. Obviously, it was a no-brainer for Jo. Unlike most public schools, Eastland paid its teachers very well. And it really did mean a great deal, both to Jo and to Mrs. Garrett, for her to be teaching at the same school that had given her so much for so many years. And Jo knew that if they were still living in Peekskill when Eden turned twelve, she would proudly enroll her daughter in Eastland.

Later on that night, Jo walked into the nursery to check on Eden. (Jo was now sleeping in Andy's old bedroom and they'd converted Pippa's old bedroom into a nursery for Eden.) When she opened the door, she smiled when she saw Mrs. Garrett sitting with Eden in the rocking chair, rocking her and singing her to sleep.

When Mrs. G. was finished singing, Jo walked up to her and Eden and asked with a smile, "You really love being a grandma, don't you?"

Mrs. Garrett looked up at Jo and told her truthfully, "More than anything. Oh Jo, I can't thank you enough for bringing Eden into the world."

"And I can't thank you enough for being such an amazing grandma," Jo said with a grin that was a mile wide. Jo knew that the years ahead wouldn't always be easy, but she couldn't thank Jesus enough that she had Mrs. Garrett with her. The journey ahead might not always be a smooth one, but Jo knew that no matter what life threw at them, she and Eden and Mrs. G. would all be okay.


End file.
